Random blog posts about research in political communication, how people learn or don't learn from the media, why it all matters -- plus other stuff that interests me. It's my blog, after all. I can do what I want.

Monday, February 23, 2015

Fox vs Deer

The real political battle in Georgia, the one that really matters, is whether the gray fox or the whitetail deer should be named the state's official mammal.

As this story explains, some kids at a school realized Georgia was one of the few states without an official mammal. Now you'd think maybe humans could be the official state mammal, but that's not the direction the kids took. They went fox, but the state leaned on them to go with deer instead.

McCall had a serious concern about the bill and few kind things to say about the animal.

“If
this aggravating nuisance of an animal becomes the state symbol, is it
ever going to be where we can’t protect our property and crops just
because it happens to be the state mammal?” McCall said.

Hugley assured him that the deer will gain no new protections from irate farmers.

First off, only in Georgia would an elected official think being the state (fill in the blank, such as official state reptile, or legislator) provides some legal protection. Sheesh.

So, isn't the fox superior? It certainly is if you check out how often "fox" characters appear in film and literature (scroll down here to see "fox" in popular culture). Other than Bambi, what cool deer characters come immediately to mind? And here's another vote against deer -- they're apparently popular in hipster culture? Big. Vote. Heck, even Disney recognizes the superiority of foxes. One got to be Robin Hood (below).

But let's explore the "nuisance" argument. Deer certainly win. I've hit one deer in Georgia. They're like really large rodents that can destroy cars. By making them the official mammal, we're declaring war on all those late-night drivers who end up with Bambi splattered across their grill.

The only mammal more annoying than deer? People. I would put legislators, but there's some debate about whether they're mammals.